[I am publishing two stories in my new 'Rearrangement Room' universe at the same time. They have no story connection to each other aside from sharing one element of the initial premise, and are very different in tone and content. This one is about exploring queer sexuality within a straight relationship.]
A strange, secret phenomenon exists in the United States that manifests seemingly at random, without explanation, in hotel. At irregular and unpredictable intervals, an otherwise normal hotel rooms take on a strange set of traits that we will call The Rearrangement Room. Anything from presidential suites in Downtown Manhattan to dilapidated motel lodgings on a Missouri country road can become The Rearrangement Room. We know almost nothing about how this phenomenon operates and even less about its cause or origin.
We can distill our knowledge of it into a few key points, which I will now describe:
First, The Rearrangement Room only ever appears in one place at a time. It has a speed of relocation -- we can tell, after its manifestation, how far it can remanifest in a specific time. This suggests it is a singular force (or even entity) that must move through physical or alternative means from place to place.
Second, The Rearrangement Room's effects begin as soon as the applicable guests first enter the room and ends the last time they leave, though the changes it causes are permanent. It leaves no physical evidence aside from what the actions of the guests cause. It causes no changes to the appearance or layout of a room before, during, or after manifestation.
Third, The Rearrangement Room empowers one of its guests with an as-yet-unexplained power to alter the fundamental nature of people in and around the room. These changes are typically reflected in the broader reality outside of The Rearrangement Room. It also frees them completely from all inhibitions, especially those of a sexual nature. This power has an aggressive and fast-acting corrupting influence.
Fourth, The Rearrangement Room's chosen guest can change anything about themselves and their targets but cannot erase memories, which always remain, even if they are strictly no longer true or conflict with new memories. Therefore, the guests of The Rearrangement Room are always aware of the changes they have undergone.
This is the sum total of our knowledge.
Mallory and Zeke were entering the third year of a loving marriage unfortunately plagued by a waning sex life. Though they had been telling friends and family they were trying for pregnancy, the reality was that they could really only bring themselves to manage a single good effort in each of her cycles. They had not gotten lucky, and, mutually recognizing the issue lay in their lackluster sex life, they had begun to see a couples counselor, Dr. Hiloroma specialized in resolving exactly their problem.
Dr. Hilorona had helped them work through some of their blocks, and in just two months of with with her they'd had sex five times - an enormous increase for them, though it hadn't yet lead to a pregnancy. The key to that success had been communication in and outside the bedroom, and their love had flourished alongside their sex life.
Now, as they sit in the backseat of a taxi from the Miami airport to their beachside hotel, Zeke's feeling butterflies of nervous excitement. He puts his arm around Mallory's shoulders; she snuggles into him. "Love you," he says.
"I love
you
," she chirps back. "This is going to be fun!"
"I think so," he agrees. "The good doctor hasn't lead us astray yet."
"I feel like it's a cliche, these couple's vacations, but that must be for a reason, right?" Mallory asks, looking up at him with her big brown eyes, eyelashes fluttering. Her skin is a smooth medium brown, and her wavy black hair is loose around his arm. "It's not something I would have thought would work, but everything's been going so great the past few months, I'm sure this will, too.."
"We're overdue for a vacation either way," Zeke agrees. "And we'll have no shortage of time for fun."
"Ooh, I hope that's a promise!"
They chit chat the rest of the way to the hotel. When they arrive, the driver helps unload their heavy suitcases from the trunk. Mallory tips him and the two head into the lobby. It's not wildly extravagant - they only have so much money to spend on something like this - but it is modern, stylish, and well lit. The reception desk is currently unoccupied, so they wait and talk at a lot volume, to not be overhead by guests passing by.
"What do you want to do when we get upstairs?" Mallory asks, blinking those big eyes at him again. She's wearing a loose white blouse unbuttoned enough to reveal her cleavage. Zeke's mind goes exactly where she wants it to.
"First thing's first," he tells her, "we'll need to get you out of that outfit." He still feels awkward with dirty talk, but she always seems to appreciate the effort.
"Mmm, and then maybe we can put a video on?" She's not really asking, he knows - she expects it. And he was expecting this to come up, just not in the hotel lobby.
A major element of their reinvigorated sex life had been the shared viewing of lesbian porn. Mallory had been openly bisexual since they met, but hadn't been wth a woman since - more than five years. With the porn, her sex drive and enthusiasm had skyrocketed. Now was the time to have this conversation, apparently. Zeke hoped he wouldn't fuck it up. "I was thinking not this time," he says gingerly.
"Oh." The smile drops from her face. "Why not? You know how much it's helped us."
"Oh, yeah, for sure!" He says reassuringly. "It's been great. I just don't think we need to do it every time."
"Oh, jealous I'm gonna go full lesbian?" Her question is playful, but she hit much closer to home than she expected. His stomach drops, and he struggles to gather a response. Before he can get the words out, the desk staff arrives and they start checking in.
--
It's a fourteen story ride up an exterior glass elevator to their floor. For a bit, Mallory just looks out at the water, but around the fourth floor she turns to him. Breaking the awkward silence, she asks, "You don't actually think I'm going to 'go full lesbian', do you?" It comes out a little more defensive than she meant.
"I don't know," he says, sounding genuinely concerned. "Last time, you didn't look at me the entire time I was in you. You were staring at the screen. I know you can't change sexuality or anything, but what if you were a lesbian all this time?"
"Oh my god, Zeke." She can't believe he would say something like that. "Are you for real? You've known I was bi. You're always saying it's hot!"
"Are you really bi? Because it feels like you're only getting off to the porn, not the man in your bed."
"I think I would know if I was a lesbian, Zeke," she snaps. "And I'm pretty sure your dick in me had a big role in my orgasms. Don't did this bi erasure bullshit to
me
."
"I'm not doing bi-whatever," he grumbles. "I'm just saying I don't know how much someone can really be into men and women."
"That's literally exactly bi erasure," Mallory tells him flatly as the elevator slows to stop. "It's bullshit and you know it. Everybody is a little bit bi, even if the circumstances for some people are more narrow."
"Not me," he says defiantly. Annoying, but at least they're both cooling off. The doors ping. "I'm a ladies man."
She rolls her eyes and steps out of the elevator. Of course, he spanks her the instant she's front of him. She looks back at him "Well, then, ladies man, why don't you grab my suitcase and then come show me what you can do?"
Smiling coyly, he hurries along after her. "Yes, ma'am."
The door unlocks with a tap of her phone". "Very fancy," she coos, and then steps inside. Before she can admire the suite, however, a wave of nausea hits her. It passes as quickly as it came. "Whoa," she says woozily. Something tells her it was a result of the room itself. "Is there something weird about the air in here?"
"I don't know, honey," Zeke says, his eyes wide with worry. "Are you feeling ok?"
